


The Happiest Birthday

by lizardwriter



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 03:31:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14369973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizardwriter/pseuds/lizardwriter
Summary: Robin surprises Alice for her first birthday out of her tower.





	The Happiest Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really go here, but my friend loves them and needed a pick-me-up, so I wrote a bit of fluffy goodness in one of the massive gaps in what we know of their timeline. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

The surprise and delight on Alice’s face when she opened the door and saw the decorative cake, let Robin know she made the right decision just showing up like this. Alice had said she didn’t want anything big, but she’d had years of nothing big. Years of nothing at all until she conjured up the troll to set her free without meaning to. The troll that had brought them together in the first place. 

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Robin yelled. 

Alice squeaked in delight. “Oh my goodness! For me?”

“Who else would it be for, silly?” Robin asked, moving past her and setting the cake on the table.

“The last time I had a cake I didn’t bake myself...Well, I can’t remember it,” Alice said. 

Robin felt that familiar little ache in her chest that happened whenever she thought about Alice locked in that tower. She shook it off. “Yes, well, it’s different now. Don’t you remember what I told you last year?”

Alice shook her head. 

“I’m here now. You’re not alone,” Robin said with a grin. 

Alice’s answering grin set her heart a flutter.

She turned away and took a deep breath. She had to do that more and more these days.

She wanted to be strong and brave, and Alice made her feel those things, but Alice also made her feel weak in the knees and incredibly timid. 

It was funny how the one person she felt like she could talk to about anything was the one person she kept stopping herself from saying things to, scared of what the responses might be. Scared to change the way Alice looks at her.

“So, first things first. Can’t have a cake without...Candles!” Robin declared, pulling some out of her pouch and placing them carefully into the cake. “And, of course, you can’t have a birthday without presents!”

Alice clapped her hands with delight. “I thought the cake was my present! And someone to share it with!”   
Robin told herself she didn’t melt a little at that comment.

“No. Don’t be silly. You get a proper present, too,” she said. She pulled her satchel off her shoulder and opened it up, producing a small, carefully wrapped parcel with colorful ribbons. 

“Two presents, actually. One wrapped around the other. The one is from my mom.”   
Alice welled up at that. “That’s so incredibly sweet of her!”

“She likes you,”Robin replied with a shrug. Robin had a feeling her mom knew more about her feelings than she was letting on and that had colored her opinion of Alice, but she didn’t dare say so.

Alice took the present delicately, an expression of awe on her face, and she sat down in a chair and looked up at Robin. 

Robin moved to sit in the chair beside her. “Well, open it!” she encouraged. 

“Okay!” Alice carefully untied the ribbons and peeled back the paper. Inside was the beautiful blue shawl that Robin’s mother had picked out. “Oh! It’s gorgeous!” Alice declared as she unwrapped it slowly. The fabric shimmered in the dull light as she did so. 

As she unwrapped she revealed Robin’s gift for her. It had taken her hours spread across days to do it, but she had been pleased with the results in the end. 

“It’s my troll!” Alice exclaimed, holding up the wooden figurine. 

“I did the best I could from memory!”

“You made him? For me?” Alice looked at her in wonder. 

Robin shrugged as if it had been nothing. “I thought maybe he could keep you company when I’m not around,” she said with a wink. “Besides, if it weren’t for him, we’d never have met.”

Alice shook her head at that. “I don’t believe that. I think we would have met anyway. You were meant to be in my life. I truly believe that.”

Robin swallowed hard and did her best to hide just how deeply Alice’s words touched her.

“Well, anyway, shall we light the candles so you can make your birthday wish?” Robin asked, getting to her feet. 

Alice sat there and looked from the shawl to the figurine to Robin and her eyes welled up with tears. “I can’t think what I’d wish for when I’m pretty sure it’s all right here!”

Robin’s heart skipped a beat. “Don’t be silly. I’m sure there’s something else you want besides a few presents and a cake.”

“And my dearest friend here to celebrate with me,” Alice added. 

Robin ignored the way the word “friend” cut through her like a knife. To be counted as Alice’s dearest friend was a privilege, she reminded herself. She gave Alice a broad smile. 

“How about the person of your dreams? Someone to whisk you off your feet and make you fall in love?” she suggested, instantly wishing she hadn’t. For anyone else the wish would be relatively harmless, but Alice could no doubt magic just such a person into existence. 

Alice gave Robin a curious look, then thought for a second. “There is something I could wish for, actually,” she decided. 

“Good. I’ll light the candles,” Robin said. She moved back to her satchel and pulled out some matches, then she lit each candle. When she looked up again Alice was standing beside her, the little troll figurine places carefully on the table near the cake.

“Happy birthday to you,” Robin sang. “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Alice! Happy birthday to you!”

Alice’s face glowed in the candlelight and Robin could barely handle how beautiful she looked. 

Alice turned to Robin and studied her for a long moment before she shut her eyes and blew out the candles. 

Robin held her breath as she waited for the wish to come true. She half expected some dashingly handsome man to come knocking at the door. She’d do her best not to punch him if he did. 

Alice straightened slowly and watched her. 

After a minute, Robin said, “I thought your wishes came true.”

Alice smiled. “It did. Well, mostly.”

Robin looked around again, trying to figure out what might have changed that she hadn’t noticed. “What did you wish for?”

Alice shrugged. “A wonderful birthday with the girl who whisked me off my feed and made me fall in love.”

Robin’s mouth went dry and her eyes went wide as she processed Alice’s words. “You- I- You-“ Robin tried, but words failed her completely. 

Alice smile broadened and a tinge of red touched her cheeks. “I thought you’d have worked it out by now,” she confessed shyly.

“Love?” Robin tried to form a coherent sentence once more and again failed miserably. Her heart soared as Alice nodded. 

All this time spent being stupid and worrying when all she really should have done was -

Well, there was no time like the present. 

Robin surged forward, sliding one hand into Alice’s golden hair and cupping her face with the other. Their lips met with a magical spark that seared through Robin’s body, flooding her with warmth. 

Alice’s lips were soft and tender and demanding on hers, and Robin kissed her deeply. 

When they broke apart, a joyful laughter bubbled out of Robin as she leaned her forehead against Alice’s. 

“Wish come true fully now?”

Alice grinned and nodded, her forehead rolling against Robin’s as she did so. 

Robin kissed her again. “Good,” she mumbled against Alice’s lips. 

She kissed her again and again and again, and when they next broke apart they were both breathless. 

“Happy birthday,” Robin said, beaming at Alice. 

Alice beamed right back at her. “The happiest.”

 


End file.
